Top Agile and Scrum Interview Questions and Answers

Let's start with the top Agile Scrum Methodology interview questions.
Q. 1) How long the scrum cycle last?
Ans. 1) Basically, Scrum cycle depends on the project size and the team size. Team size may vary from 3 members to 9
members. Normally it takes 3 to 4 weeks to complete a scrum sprint. On an average, a scrum sprint ends in 4 weeks.
Q.2) What is the scrum of scrums?
Ans. 2) Suppose there are 7 teams working on a project and each team has 7 members. Each team leads its own
particular scrum meeting. Now to coordinate among the teams a separate meeting has to be organized, that meeting is
called Scrum of Scrums.

An ambassador ( a designated person who represents team) represents its team in the scrum of scrums.

Few points discussed in the meeting are:

(a) The progress of the team, after the last meeting.

(b) The task to be done before the next meeting.

(c) Hindrance which the team had faced while completing the last task.

Q.3) Explain the term ‘increment'?

Ans. 3) When the team finishes the sprint, hopefully, they have completed everything they forecasted. Sum of all the
product backlog items which were completed in a sprint is called increments. This new increment also has the value of
increment of the previous sprints.
Q.4) What is Sashimi?
Ans. 4) Sashimi is a Japanese word which means pierced body. Basically, it is a Japanese dish which consists of fresh
meat or fish, sliced into thin pieces. Each piece is similar in taste when compared with the other pieces.

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Sashimi in scrum methodology means every phase of software development cycle in a sprint which includes requirement
analysis, planning & design, development, testing, documentation is complete or not and the product is ready to be
displayed etc.

Q.5) What are impediments?

Ans. 5) Any hindrance which prevents the smooth flow of work or due to which the team is not able to perform its task
in a better way is what we call ‘impediments'

Q.6) Explain ‘scrum poker' or ‘planning poker' technique?

Ans. 6) Scrum poker also called as planning poker, is a card-based estimation technique which is based on a general
agreement.
1) To start it, the agile user story is read either by the customer or the owner and the estimator understand its features.

2) Each estimator has planning cards with different no. on it like 0,1,2,3,5,8 and so on. These values on the card are ideal
days or story points.

3) Estimator select cards based on their estimation by discussing features set by the product owner.

4) If a common value is selected, it is an estimate, if not they discuss their max. and min. estimation.

5) This process is repeated till a general agreement is reached.

Q.7) What are the principles of agile testing?

Ans. 7) Some major principles of agile testing are:
 Customer satisfaction
 Bug-free clean code
 Changes are welcome by customer
 Whole team business people and developers work collectively
 Instead of lengthy documentation, focus on essence
 It focuses on face to face conversation
 It promotes sustainable development
Q.8) What are the disadvantages of the agile model?
Ans. 8) Some of the disadvantages of using agile model are as follows:

a) Not easy to predict: When you encounter a large project, it is not easy to get an idea how much effort will it need
b) If the guidelines given by the customers is not properly grasped, then final outcome of the project is not customer
satisfying
c) Sometimes focusing on design and documentation is not proper
d) High-level decisions are under the hand of Veterans, if not combined with non-experienced one, freshers have little
scope to grasp proper knowledge.
Q. 9) When to use agile model?
Ans. 9) There are some development and methodologies where you can use agile like feature-driven development, lean
software development, crystal methodologies, dynamic development.
Q.10) What is Release candidate?
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Ans. 10) The release candidate is a code /version /build released to make sure that during the last development period,
no critical problem is left behind. It is used for testing and is equivalent to the final build.
Q.11) In what way does agile testing(development) methodology differ from the other testing(development)
methodologies?
Ans. 11) In Agile methodology, the code is broken into small parts and at a time, only that particular code is worked or
tested. Continuous communication on the particular code part is done by a team so that the focus is only on that
particular code. This makes the agile process more flexible and focused.
Q.12) Can agile methodology also be applied in other than software testing and development projects?
Ans. 12) There are several places where agile methodology can be applied in the field of biochemistry, biophysics, bio-
medical or at the place where there is insufficient data, where the project needs to be completed in a small team, where
to work in unknown and there are several areas.
Q.13) How do you know if you are using agile development?
Ans. 13) Whenever you are using certain things like Test-driven development, time-boxed task board, class
responsibilities collaborators, daily stand up meeting, pair programming, continuous integration, reviews and much
more… you will get to know that you are using agile development
Q.14) Explain what is a story point in the scrum?
Ans. 14) It can be considered as a unit to estimate the total efforts required to complete or to do the particular task or
implementing a backlog.
Q.15) What does the X and Y axis of burndown chart?
Ans. 15) In burn down, chart X-axis shows working days and Y-axis shows remaining efforts.

Here, in the image blue line depicts the ideal time suggested for completing the project. For example in a project ideally,
28 tasks (efforts) are pending on the starting day of the project. And the project is scheduled to be completed in 20 days.
So on the 20th day, zero task (efforts) should remain, which means the project should get completed.
On the other hand, red line depicts the actual task (efforts) given with respect to the days. Here on the day 5, 7 tasks
need to be completed as per planning, however, in actual only 4 tasks were completed.

Thus, it provides proper tracking down of the progress of the project and thereby helps in improving the efficiency and
on time taken to deliver the project.

Q.16) What are the main roles in the scrum?

Ans. 16)

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1) Scrum team: – scrum team is made by an individual person who works collectively to achieve a particular task. Team
works in a bond to deliver committed and requested product
2) Scrum master: – scrum master is responsible for the proper execution or working of the scrum team. Being a servant
– leader and a coach, he ensures the proper productivity of a team towards scrum an sprint goal.
3) Product owner: – product owner has the responsibility to deliver a complete picture of what to build and to convey
that idea to the team
Q.17) What is product burn down chart?
Ans. 17) A description in the form of the graph which shows implemented and not – implemented product backlog is
called burndown chart.
Q.18) What is sprint burn down chart?
Ans. 18) A graph used to describe no. of implemented / non-implemented sprint in scrum cycle.
Q.19) What is Release burn down chart?
Ans.19) Graph used to depict the pending release which was earlier planned is called Release burn down the chart.
Q.20) What is defect burn down chart?
Ans.20) No. of defect identified and removed is represented by the defect burn down chart
Q.21) What is sprint planning meeting?
Ans. 21) Sprint planning meeting is joined by all entities like scrum master, product owner and whole scrum team where
they discuss the priority features of the team and product backlog items.
Q.22) What is Sprint Retrospective meeting?
Ans.22) This is mostly the last part of the sprint or may be done after sprint review meeting. Scrummaster and the whole
team participate in it, they discuss ‘ what was good during the sprint',' what was bad',' what needs to be improved'. It
generally lasts for 2-3 hrs.
Q.23) What do you know about ‘build-breaker'?
Ans .23) When sometimes developers accidentally commit bug in the software and when such bug stops the
compilation process or generates the warning or failure in normal execution of testing, we say that the build is broken
and the major priority of the tester is to get back again to the normal stage by resolving the bug issue.
Q.24) Tell me something about Kanban?
Ans.24) Kanban is a tool which helps the team to overlook the work ie., its progress. Progress, as well as the status of
your current development story, is perfectly described using kanban and more accurately it is done by ‘Kanban board'.
Kanban board allows you to write the whole scenario of your project at a single place so that you can get a perfect
picture of the bottleneck, a task done, workflow progress or basically the complete status of your project.

Q.25) Describe the places where ‘Scrum' and ‘Kanban' are used?
Ans.25) ‘Scrum' is used when you need to shift towards more appropriate or more prominent process while if you want
improvement in running the process without much changes in the whole scenario, you should use ‘Kanban'

Q.26) Why aren't user stories simply estimated in man hours?

Ans. 26) Estimation of user stories on the basis of man-hours can be done but preferably not. You won't be able to
concentrate on the quality product to be delivered to the customer. Moreover, you will concentrate on cost and budget
of the management while using man hours.
Instead of that, one can use story points, as it provides the complete idea about both the complexity of work and
required efforts

Q.27) Name three other Agile frameworks?

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Ans.27) Test Driven Development, Feature Driven Development and Kanban.

Q.28) Should scrum master remove impediments on behalf of the scrum team?
Ans. 28) Scrum master can do that, but he should not. Scrum master should neither over-rule nor pamper his/her team.
Initially, there may be chances of failure, unplanned excursions or dead-end where the team can trap, here scrum
master should support them and show the proper way of getting out of it. Scrum team should be independent to take its
own decision.

Q.29) How does agile testing (development) methodology differ from another testing (development) methodologies?
Ans. 29) In agile testing methodology, the entire testing process is broken into a small segment of codes and in each
step, these codes are tested. There are several process or plans involved in this methodology like communication with
the team, short strategical changes to get the optimal result etc.
Q.30) How would master recommend following-up on action items?
Ans. 30) The best way of doing that is by setting follow-up of the task/list to be done by the member pick at team
retrospective. Scrum master should collect the information or status of the action items from the previous retrospective
before moving further with the new one and if any of action items remain uncovered or untreated, the cause or the
reason should be known to avoid it's further happening.
Q.31) Which are the top agile matrices?
Ans. 31)
1) Velocity: – Tracking your velocity gives you the clear idea about your progress, capacity etc. Measurement can be
done by the sum of all approved estimates of the stories.
2) Work category allocation: – This factor provides us a clear idea about where we are investing our time or where to
set priority.
3) Defect removal awareness: – Quality product can be delivered by active members and their awareness
4) Cumulative flow diagram: – With the help of this flow diagram, the uniform workflow can be checked, where X-axis
shows time and Y-axis shows no. of efforts.
5) Sprint burn down matric: – Tracking on the completion of work along with the sprint is done.
6) A business value delivered: -Business value delivered is an entity which shows the team's working efficiency. This
method is used to measure, in which around 100 points are associated with each project. Business objectives are given
value from 1,2,3,5 and so on according to complexity, urgency, and ROI.
7) Defect resolution time: – It's a process where team member detects the bug and priority intention by the removal of
error.
A series of process is involved in fixing bug:
 Clearing the picture of bug
 Schedule fix
 Fixation of Defect is done
 Report of resolution is handed
8) Time coverage:- Amount of time given to a code in question in testing. It is measured by the ratio of no. of line of
code called by test suite by total no. of the relative lines of code (in percentage)
Conclusion:
Agile methodology is designed to complete the task in the shorter time slot, which precisely satisfies the needs of the
client and at the same time scrum is famous for its flexibility according to the requirements.

Scrum interview questions and answers

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Q #1. How is scrum different from waterfall?
The major differences are:

 The feedback from customer is received at an early stage in Scrum than waterfall, where the feedback from
customer is received towards the end of development cycle.
 To accommodate the new or changed requirement in scrum is easier than waterfall.
 Scrum focuses on collaborative development than waterfall where the entire development cycle is divided into
phases.
 At any point of time we can roll back the changes in scrum than in waterfall.
 Test is considered as phase in waterfall unlike scrum.
Q #2. How is scrum different from Iterative model?
Scrum is a type of iterative model only but it is iterative + incremental.

Q #3. Do you know any other agile methodology apart from Scrum?
Other Agile methodology include – KanBan, XP, Lean

Q #4. What are the ceremonies you perform in scrum

There are 3 major ceremonies performed in Scrum:-

1. Planning Meeting – Where the entire scrum teams along with the scrum master and product owner meets and
discuss each item from the product backlog that they can work on the sprint. When the story is estimated and is
well understood by the team, the story then moves into the Sprint Backlog.
2. Review Meeting – Where the scrum team demonstrates their work done to the stake holders
3. Retrospective meeting – Where the scrum teams along with the scrum master and product owner meets and
retrospect the last sprint they worked on. They majorly discuss about 3 things:
 What went well?
 What could be done better?4
 Action Items
Apart from these three ceremonies, we have one more called “Backlog grooming” meeting. In this meeting, the scrum
team along with the scrum master and product owner. The product owner put forward the business requirements as per
the priority and the team discussed over it, identifies the complexity, dependencies and efforts. The team may also do
the story pointing at this stage.

Q #5. Do you know the Three Amigos in Scrum?

The three Amigos are – The product Owner, The Scrum Master and the Scrum Team.

Q #6. What do you think should be the ideal size of a Scrum team?
The ideal size is 7 to9 with +/- 2

Q #7. What do you discuss in Daily stand up meeting?

We discuss three things:-

 What did I do today?

 What I plan to do tomorrow?
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  Any impediments / roadblock
Q #8. What is the “time Boxing” of a scrum process called?
It’s called “Sprint”

Q #9. What should be an ideal duration of a sprint?

It is recommended to have 2 – 4 weeks of sprint cycle.

Q #10. How requirements are defined in a scrum?

Requirements are termed as “User Stories” in Scrum.

Q #11. What are the different artifacts in scrum?

There are two artifacts maintained in Scrum:

 Product Backlog – Containing the prioritized list of business requirements

 Sprint Backlog – Contains the user stories to be done by the scrum team for a sprint.
Q #12. How do you define a user story?
The user stories are defined in the format of

As a <User / type of user>

I want to <action / feature to implement>

So that < objective>

Q #13. What are the roles of a Scrum Master and Product owner?
Scrum Master – Acts as a servant Leader for the scrum team. He presides over all the scrum ceremonies and coaches the
team to understand and implement scrum values and principals.

Product Owner – Is the Point of contact for a scrum team. He/she is the one who work closest to the business. The main
responsibility of a product owner is to identify and refine the product backlog items.

Q #14. How do you measure the work done in a sprint?

It’s measured by Velocity.

Q #15. What is Velocity?

Velocity is the sum of story points that a scrum team completes (meets the definition of done) over a sprint.

Q #16. So in scrum which entity is responsible for deliverable? Scrum master or Product owner?
Neither the scrum master, not the product owner. It’s the responsibility of the team who owns the deliverable.

Q #17. How do you measure the complexity or effort in a sprint? Is there a way to determine and represent it?
Complexity and effort is measured through “Story Points”. In scrum it’s recommended to use Fibonacci series to
represent it.

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Q #18. How do you track your progress in a sprint?
The progress is tracked by a “Burn-Down chart”.

Q #19. How do you create the burn down chart?

Burn down chart is a graph which shows the estimated v/s actual effort of the scrum tasks.

It is a tracking mechanism by which for a particular sprint; day to day tasks are tracked to check whether the stories are
progressing towards the completion of the committed story points or not. Here we should remember that the efforts are
measured in terms of user stories and not hours.

Q #20. What do you do in a sprint review and retrospective?

During Sprint review we walkthrough and demonstrate the feature or story implemented by the scrum team to the
stake holders.

During retrospective, we try to identify in a collaborative way what went well, what could be done better and action
items to have continuous improvement.

Q #21. Do you see any disadvantage of using scrum?

I don’t see any disadvantage of using scrum. The problems mainly arises when the scrum team do not either understand
the values and principles of scrum or are not flexible enough to change. Before we deciding on scrum, we must first try
to answer the

Q #22. Do you think scrum can be implemented in all the software development process?
Scrum is used mainly for

 complex kind of project

 Projects which have early and strict deadlines.
 When we are developing any software from scratch.
Q #23. During review, suppose the product owner or stakeholder does not agree to the feature you implemented
what would you do?
First thing we will not mark the story as done.

We will first confirm the actual requirement from the stakeholder and update the user story and put it into backlog.
Based on the priority, we would be pulling the story in next sprint.

Q #24. In case, the scrum master is not available, would you still conduct the daily stand up meeting?
Yes, we can very well go ahead and do our daily stand up meeting.

Q #25. Where does automation fit into scrum?

Automation plays a vital role in Scrum. In order to have continuous feedback and ensure a quality deliverable we should
try to implement TDD, BDD and ATDD approach during our development. Automation in scrum is not only related to
testing but it is for all aspect of software development. As I said before introducing TDD, BDD and ATDD will speed up
our development process along with maintaining the quality standards; automating the build and deployment process
will also speed up the feature availability in different environment – QA to production. As far as testing is concerned,
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regression testing should be the one that will have most attention. With progress of every sprint, the regression suit
keeps on increasing and it becomes practically very challenging to execute the regression suit manually for every sprint.
Because we have the sprint duration of 2 – 4 weeks, automating it would be imperial.

Q #26. Apart from planning, review and retrospective, do you know any other ceremony in scrum?
We have the Product backlog refinement meeting (backlog grooming meeting) where the team, scrum master and
product owner meets to understand the business requirements, splits it into user stories, and estimating it.

Q #27. Can you give an example of where scrum cannot be implemented? In that case what do you suggest?
Scrum can be implemented in all kinds of projects. It is not only applicable to software but is also implemented
successfully in mechanical and engineering projects.

Q #28. Tell me one big advantage of using scrum?

The major advantage which I feel is – Early feedback and producing the Minimal Viable Product to the stakeholders.

Q #29. What is DoD? How is this achieved?

DoD stands for Definition of done. It is achieved when

 the story is development complete,

 QA complete,
 The story meets and satisfy the acceptance criteria
 regression around the story is complete
 The feature is eligible to be shipped / deployed in production.
Q #30. What is MVP in scrum?
A Minimum Viable Product is a product which has just the bare minimum required feature which can be demonstrated
to the stakeholders and is eligible to be shipped to production.

Q #31. What are Epics?

Epics are equivocal user stories or we can say these are the user stories which are not defined and are kept for future
sprints.

Q #32. How do you calculate a story point?

A Story point is calculated by taking into the consideration the development effort+ testing effort + resolving
dependencies and other factors that would require to complete a story.

Q #33. Is it possible that you come across different story point for development and testing efforts? In that case how
do you resolve this conflict?
Yes, this is a very common scenario. There may be a chance that the story point given by the development team is, say 3
but the tester gives it 5. In that case both the developer and tester have to justify their story point, have discussion in
the meeting and collaborate to conclude a common story point.

Q #34. You are in the middle of a sprint and suddenly the product owner comes with a new requirement, what will
you do?

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In ideal case, the requirement becomes a story and moves to the backlog. Then based on the priority, team can take it
up in the next sprint. But if the priority of the requirement is really high, then the team will have to accommodate it in
the sprint but it has to very well communicated to the stakeholder that incorporating a story in the middle of the sprint
may result in spilling over few stories to the next sprint.

Q #35. In case you receive a story at the last day of the sprint to test and you find there are defects, what will you do?
Will you mark the story to done?
A story is done only when it is development complete + QA complete + acceptance criteria is met + it is eligible to be
shipped into production. In this case if there are defects, the story is partially done and not completely done, so I will
spill it over to next sprint.

Hope some of the most frequently asked scrum interview questions and answers will be helpful for you preparing
scrum interview.

Agile Scrum Interview Questions

Here, we represent top 40 Agile Scrum interview questions with answers and hope that these questions will help you
while preparing for the agile scrum interview.

Basic Agile Scrum Interview Questions

While you are preparing for the Agile Scrum interview, move to your final preparation with the below-mentioned basic
agile scrum interview questions. These are quick questions you should go through before your agile scrum interview.

1. What is the duration of a scrum sprint?

Answer: Generally, the duration of a scrum sprint (scrum cycle) depends upon the size of project and team working on it.
The team size may vary from 3-9 members. In general, a scrum script complete in 3-4 weeks. Thus, on an average, the
duration of a scrum sprint (scrum cycle) is 4 weeks. This type of sprint-based Agile scrum interview questions is very
common in an agile or scrum master interview.

2. What is Velocity?

Answer: Velocity question is generally posed to understand if you have done some real work and familiar with the term.
Its definition “Velocity is the rate at which team progresses print by sprint” should be enough. You can also add saying
the important feature of velocity that it can’t be compared to two different scrum teams.

3. What do you know about impediments in Scrum? Give some examples of impediments.

Answer: Impediments are the obstacles or issues faced by scrum team which slow down their speed of work. If
something is trying to block the scrum team from their getting work “Done” then it is an impediment. Impediments can
come in any form. Some of the impediments are given as –

 Resource missing or sick team member

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  Technical, operational, organizational problems
 Lack of management supportive system
 Business problems
 External issues such as weather, war etc
 Lack of skill or knowledge
While answering impediments related agile scrum interview questions remember that you may be asked the way to
remove any of the mentioned impediment.

4. What is the difference and similarity between Agile and Scrum?

Answer: Difference between Agile and Scrum – Agile is a broad spectrum, it is a methodology used for project
management while Scrum is just a form of the Agile that describes the process and its steps more concisely. Agile is a
practice whereas scrum is a procedure to pursue this practice.

The similarity between Agile and Scrum – The Agile involves completing projects in steps or incrementally. The Agile
methodology is considered to be iterative in nature. Being a form of Agile, Scrum is same as that of the Agile. It is also
incremental and iterative.

5. What is the increment? Explain.

Answer: This is one of the commonly asked agile scrum interview questions and a quick answer can be given this way. An
increment is the total of all the product backlogs items completed during a sprint. Each increment includes all the
previous sprint increment values as it is cumulative. It must be in the available mode in the subsequent release as it is a
step to reach your goal.

6. What is the “build-breaker”?

Answer: The build-breaker is a situation that arises when there is a bug in the software. Due to this sudden unexpected
bug, compilation process stops or execution fails or a warning is generated. The responsibility of the tester is then to get
the software back to the normal working stage removing the bug.

7. What do you understand by Daily Stand-Up?

Answer: You may surely get an interview question about daily stand-up. So, what should be the answer to this question?
The daily stand-up is an everyday meeting (most preferably held in the morning) in which the whole team meets for
almost 15 minutes to find answer to the following three questions –

 What was done yesterday?

 What is your plan for today?
 Is there any impediment or block that restricts you from completing your task?
The daily stand-up is an effective way to motivate the team and make them set a goal for the day.

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8. What do you know about Scrum ban?

Answer: Scrum-ban is a Scrum and Kanban-based model for the software development. This model is specifically used
for the projects that need continuous maintenance, have various programming errors or have some sudden changes.
This model promotes the completion of a project in minimum time for a programming error or user story.

Agile Interview Questions

In this section, we are going to cover Agile interview questions. You should be prepared for the agile interview with the
following agile interview questions.

9. State some of the Agile quality strategies.

Answer: Some of the Agile quality strategies are –

 Iteration
 Re-factoring
 Dynamic code analysis
 Short feedback cycles
 Reviews and inspection
 Standards and guidelines
 Milestone reviews

10. Do you know about Agile Manifesto & its Principles? Explain in brief.

Answer: This is the theory which most of agile/scrum roles aspirant should be on tips. Four manifesto values and 12
principles should be explained as much as possible as part of this question. Even if it’s not explained in 100% accurate
manner it should be fine but intentions of values and principles should come out e.g.

 Working Software should be demonstrated at regular intervals

 Individuals & interaction – self-organization, self-motivating should be encouraged
 Customer collaboration
 Welcoming change at any point in time in the project

11. Is there any drawback of the Agile model? If yes, explain.

Answer: Yes, there are some drawbacks of the Agile model, some of them are as follows –

1. It is not easy to make a prediction about the effort required to complete a task. It becomes more
problematic in case of large projects as it becomes difficult to get an idea of the total effort required.
2. At sometimes, it’s not possible to properly focus on the design and documentation of the project
3. In case the requirements of the client are not understood properly, the final project will not meet the
customer requirements. Thus, it will lead to the customer dissatisfaction.

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 4. Only the leader who has considerable experience in Agile methodologies is capable to take important
decisions. The team members with little or no experience are not involved in decision-making, thus they
don’t get chance to advance their knowledge.
It’s not always the case that you will be asked the questions about the characteristics and advantages of the agile and
scrum in an agile scrum interview. So, just prepare yourself for the drawbacks and disadvantages related agile scrum
interview questions.

12. What is the use of burn-up and burn-down charts?

Answer: The burn-up chart illustrates the amount of completed work in a project whereas the burn-down chart depicts
the amount of work remained to complete a project. Thus, the burn-up and burn-down charts are used to trace the
progress of a project.

13. Define Zero Sprint and Spike in Agile.

Answer: To answer this question, describe Zero Sprint and Agile in detail, as follows –

Zero sprint – Zero Sprint can be defined as the preparation step of the first sprint in Agile. There are some activities that
are required to be done before actually starting the project. These activities are considered as the Zero sprint; the
examples of such activities are – setting the environment for development, preparation of backlogs etc.

Spike – Spike is the type of story that can be taken between the sprints. Spikes are commonly used for the activities
related to the design or technical issues such as research, design, prototyping, and exploration. There are two types of
spikes – functional spikes and technical spikes.

Scrum Interview Questions

While going for a scrum job interview, prepare yourself for some good scrum interview questions. You may be asked
questions related to scrum master, sprint, story point, sashimi, ceremonies etc. by the interviewer. So, prepare yourself
for these scrum interview questions.

14. What is the role of the Scrum Master?

Answer: Here’s how you can answer Scrum Master interview questions like this –

The scrum master is the leader as well as coach of the Scrum team. The scrum master is responsible to serve and protect
his team from any kind of distractions that could affect their performance. The main role of the scrum master is to
motivate his team to achieve the sprint goal. He is focused to build a self-organized and motivated team where each
member is familiar with the implementation of Agile and Scrum principles and applications. The scrum master keeps a
proper check on the scrum team if they are executing committed tasks properly. He is also responsible to increase the
efficiency and productivity of the team so that they can achieve the sprint goal effectively.

Also Read : Scrum – Is it mandatory to learn in today’s IT market?

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15. What do you know about a story point in Scrum?

Answer: A story point in Scrum is the unit for the estimation of total efforts that are required to perform or complete a
particular task. So, here is how you can answer such agile scrum interview questions on a single line.

16. What is the role of Sashimi in Scrum methodology?

Answer: Sashimi plays an important role in Scrum methodology. Sashimi is a technique used by Scrum to check the
completion of all the functions created by the developers. Using this technique, all the requirements such as analysis,
designing, coding, testing and documentation that are used in the constitution of a product are checked and only after
that the product is displayed.

17. What are the different roles in Scrum?

The three scrum roles i.e. Scrum Master, Product Owner and Team should be explained with the details of few primary
responsibilities of each role. You can add more details as mentioned below for a particular depending on the role you
are getting interviewed for.

Product owner – A product owner is actually the stakeholder of the project. He represents the project requirements
before the team. He is responsible to have a vision of what to build and convey his detailed vision to the team. He is the
starting point of an agile scrum software development project.

Scrum team – Scrum team is formed by the collective contribution of individuals who perform for the accomplishment
of a particular project. The team is bound to work for the timely delivery of the requested product.

Scrum master – Scrum master is the leader and the coach for the scrum team who checks whether the scrum team is
executing committed tasks properly. He is also responsible to increase the efficiency and productivity of the team so that
they can achieve the sprint goal effectively.

18. What are the responsibilities of a Scrum Master?

Answer: Key responsibilities of a Scrum Master involves:

 Tracking and monitoring

 Understanding requirements properly
 Work to reach the project goal
 Process checking master and quality master
 Protect the team from detachments
 Improving the performance of the team
 Lead the meetings and resolve issues
 Resolution of conflicts and impediments
 Communication and reporting
Read Here : What are Scrum roles and why it’s needed?

PAGE- 14
19. What are different ceremonies and their importance in Scrum?

 Scrum planning, Scrum – Daily stand up, Scrum review & scrum retrospective ceremonies should be clearly
expressed with the purpose of the ceremony. It’s important to remember the time-boxing of the ceremonies
for a standard 4 weeks of Sprint or as per the Sprint you have used in your projects.

Agile Testing Interview Questions

Agile testing is the software development practice using practices of agile software development. In an interview for the
Agile job, you may be asked agile testing questions, so have a look at the agile testing interview questions.

20. What do you understand by the term Agile testing?

Answer: Agile testing is a software testing practice that is fully based on the agile principles of software development. It
is an iterative methodology where the requirements are the outcome of collaboration between the product owner and
team. The agile principles and applications are applied to meet the customer requirements by successful completion of
the project.

21. State some major principles of Agile testing.

Answer: Some major principles of Agile testing are –

 Customer satisfaction
 Face to face communication
 Sustainable development
 Quick respond to changes
 Continuous feedback
 Successive improvement
 Self-organized
 Focus on essence
 Error-free clean node
 Collective work

22. What are the skills of a good Agile Tester?

Answer: An agile tester is one who implements agile software development principles for software testing. Followings
are the skills of a good agile tester –

 Required to be familiar with the concepts and principles of Agile

 Should have an excellent communication to communicate with the team and the clients
 Ability to set priority for the tasks according to the requirements
 Should be able to understand the requirements properly
 Understanding of the risks involved with a project due to changing requirements

PAGE- 15
Advanced Agile Scrum Interview Questions

The agile scrum is a vast field, so the interviewers seek candidates with advanced knowledge. Thus, the basic knowledge
is not sufficient to crack the job interview. So, here we bring some frequently asked advanced agile scrum interview
questions.

23. What do you understand by the term “Scrum of Scrums”?

Answer: This is one of the commonly asked scrum master interview questions. Consider a case to understand the
meaning of the term scrum of the scrums. Let us assume an active project on which seven teams are currently working.
The number of members of each team is also seven. Each team is responsible to lead its own scrum meeting. But, in
order to coordinate and communicate with different teams, it is required to organize a separate scrum meeting. The
scrum meeting organized to hold a coordination between scrum teams is known as the scrum of scrums. There is one
team leader from every team, known as ambassador, who is responsible to represent his team in the scrum of scrums.

24. Scrum is an Agile framework, right? Name a few other Agile frameworks.

Answer: Yes, Scrum is an Agile framework. Few other Agile frameworks are –

 Feature Driven Development

 Test Driven Development
 Kanban
While answering this type of Agile Scrum interview questions please note that name the frameworks you are familiar
with or have followed.

Don’t you still know the importance of learning Scrum for software developers? Read the article why should software
developers learn Scrum.

25. Explain some common metrics for Agile.

Answer: You may definitely come across agile scrum interview questions regarding agile metrics. The question may be
related to a particular agile matric or explaining all the metrics. So, the detailed description of some common metrics for
Agile is as follows:

Velocity – Velocity is the average number of points from last 3-4 sprints. It is measured by the summation of the all
approved estimates of the stories. It gives an idea of the capacity, progress etc.

Cumulative Flow Diagram – With the help of a cumulative flow diagram, an inspection is done over the uniform
workflow. In this diagram/graph, the x-axis represents time whereas the y-axis represents the number of efforts.

Work Category Allocation – Work category allocation is an important factor that gives a quick information of the time
investment i.e. where the time is being invested and which task should be given priority as a factor of time.

PAGE- 16
Time Coverage – It is the time that is given to a code during testing. It is calculated in percentage as a factor of the
number of lines of code called by the test suite and the total number of relative lines of code.

Business Value Delivered – It is a term which denotes the working efficiency of the team. The business objectives are
assigned numerical values 1,2,3.. and so on, as per the level of priority, complexity, and ROI.

Defect Removal Awareness – It is the factor that helps the team to deliver a quality product. The identification of an
active number of defects, their awareness, and removal plays an important role in delivering a high-quality product.

Defect Resolution Time – It is a procedure through which the team members detect the defects (bugs) and set a priority
for the defect resolution. The procedure of fixing errors/bugs or defect resolution comprises of multiple processes such
as clearing the picture of defect, schedule defect fixation, completing defect fixation, generation, and handling of
resolution report.

Sprint Burn Down Matric – The sprint burndown chart is a graph to represent the number of non-implemented or
implemented sprints during as Scrum cycle. This matric helps to track the work completed with the sprint.

26. Is it ever suggested to use waterfall over Scrum? If yes, explain when.

Yes, sometimes it is suggested to use a waterfall model over Scrum. It is done when the customer requirements are
simple, well-defined, fully understood, predictable, and are not subjected to change until the completion of the project.
It may the case that you would haven’t ever used waterfall over Scrum but you need to prepare for such Agile Scrum
interview questions.

27. Why does Scrum encourage the use of automated testing for projects?

Answer: Scrum encourages the use of automated (automated performance or automated regression) testing to make
the fastest possible delivery of the project. While answering this question, you may explain some tools that you have
used for automated testing.

Confused about which Scrum Master Certification you should go for? Have a comparison between PSM Vs CSM and get
to know which one is the right certification for you!

28. What do you know about “Planning Poker” technique?

Answer: Planning poker, also known as Scrum Poker, is a card-based agile technique that is used for planning and
estimation. To start a session of planning poker technique, the agile user story is read by the product owner. The steps
performed in the poker planning technique are –

1. Each estimator has a deck of poker cards with the values such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, and so on, to denote story
points, ideal days or something else that the team uses for estimation.
2. Each estimator has a discussion with the product owner and then privately selects a card on the basis of their
independent estimation.

PAGE- 17
 3. If the cards with same value are selected by all estimators, it is considered as an estimate. If not, the
estimator discusses the high and low value of their estimates.
4. Then again, each estimator privately selects a card and reveals. This process of poker planning is repeated to
reach a general agreement.

Experience-based Agile Scrum Interview Questions

In this section, the questions will be related to the experience you have in agile or scrum. You should be prepared with
the data of few of your old projects when answering these experience-based agile scrum interview questions.

29. Name some methodologies and development where you have used the Agile model.

Answer: While answering this type of agile scrum interview questions, keep in mind to mention those methodologies
that are familiar with. Some of the methodologies and development where the Agile model can be used are –

 Crystal methodologies
 Lean software development
 Dynamic development
 Feature-driven development

30. Share your experience as a Scrum Master/Product Owner/Agile team member and what were your primary
responsibilities?

Answer: Here you have to explain your project details where you worked in Scrum team and defining your role with the
responsibilities you held. The trick in this question is whether while explaining you are showing self-organizing and self-
motivational team. Also, the interviewer will try to judge how in depth you have worked in the agile/scrum environment
based on your explanation.

31. What was the length of sprints/iterations in your project?

Answer: This is probably the most common question asked in agile interviews. The idea here is to judge in which kind of
environment you have worked. There will be definitely follow up question like was this length fixed in the beginning and
never changed? Have you tried with more than this length or less than that?

32. How have you done user story mapping & estimation of stories in your projects?

Answer: This question is to under how you have done story writing, mapping, and estimation. Have you used any
estimation technique like planning poker, t-shirt, sizing etc? Whatever technique you used in your project just mention it
very clearly.

33. What is the biggest challenge you faced in your project while handling the Scrum team members?

Answer: This question is pure to judge your experience. The better you articulate your challenges working in agile better
it will be. Challenges generally faced in the initial stages of scrum is stabilizing the velocity, team members conflicts,
sticking to time-boxing etc..
PAGE- 18
34. Have you ever performed the removal of impediments as a scrum master on behalf of scrum team?

Answer: As the scrum master acts as a coach for his team, he should motivate his team to perform every task. Although
he can remove impediments on behalf of scrum team but he should not do this. It is recommended for a scrum master
not to over pamper nor overrule the team. There may be something when the team can face failure, at that time the
scrum master should help them. He should guide them with an appropriate method t0 get out of the problem. Scrum
master should prompt his team members to become independent enough to face problems and take a decision by
themselves. This is one of the frequently asked scrum master interview questions, so prepare now and get ready to
answer.

Comparative Agile Scrum Interview Questions

Whatever is the field of job, interviewers prefer to ask one or more comparative or difference-based questions. The
questions may be from the currently used or previously used technologies. So, here we represent some comparative
agile scrum interview questions.

35. What is the difference between the agile & traditional way of working?

Answer: This question is to judge whether one is aware of the environment of the agile way of working. Here the answer
is expected to cover few or all of below:

 The traditional way is sequential where design->Development->Testing etc. happens one after another
whereas in agile all of this is done in every iteration/sprint
 Changes are welcomed in agile as Scope is flexible whereas in traditional manner scope is fixed in the
beginning due to which changes have to follow change request path
 Progress is measured with % completion traditionally whereas working software is the measure of progress
in agile
 Project Manager as a central controlling authority is traditionally driving the project whereas Self-motivated
and self-organizing teams drive the projects in agile

36. What is the difference between Sprint Planning Meeting and Sprint Retrospective Meeting?

Answer: The difference between Sprint Planning Meeting and Sprint Retrospective Meeting is as follows:

Sprint Planning Meeting – A meeting in which all the Scrum roles (product owner, scrum team, and scrum master) have
a discussion about the team’s priority features and product backlog items is known as sprint planning meeting. This
meeting is held every week and lasts for almost 1 hour.

Sprint Retrospective Meeting – A meeting in which all the Scrum roles (product owner, scrum team, and scrum master)
have a discussion about the good part of the sprint, the bad part of the sprint, and the sprint improvements is known as
sprint retrospective meeting. This meeting that is held at the sprint review meeting or at the end of the sprint; it lasts for
2-3 hours.

PAGE- 19
This is one of the frequently asked Agile Scrum interview questions. You may be asked to define the above terms
separately or the difference between these two.

37. How is an agile testing methodology different from other testing methodologies?

Answer: Agile scrum interview questions may include a number of questions from agile testing. Let’s understand how
you can answer such questions.

The agile testing methodology involves the division of the whole testing process into multiple small segments of codes.
In every step, these segments of codes undergo testing. There are a number of additional processes involved in agile
testing methodologies such as team communication, strategic modifications for optimal results and many others.

38. What is the difference between agile & scrum?

Answer: This question will test whether you are aware of a broader picture of agile and its different frameworks or
flavors. Below image will help you explain this answer where you can say agile is an umbrella of values and principles
and under it, one of the lightweight frameworks is called Scrum.

Certification-related Agile Scrum Interview Questions

PAGE- 20
Certifications have become very important these days. Although it’s not compulsory to have a certification for any job
position it demonstrates your skills to the employers. So, interviewers include these certification-related agile scrum
interview questions in an agile scrum interview.

39. Do you have a Scrum Master certification?

This question may seem awkward to you but it is one of the most popular Agile Scrum interview questions. If an
interviewer asks this question, it doesn’t mean that a certification is must for the job position. Just be confident while
answering whether you have a scrum master certification or not. If you are a certified scrum master, just share the
details of your certification like certification exam, score obtained, and the year of passing the certification exam. In case
you don’t have a certification, mention and highlight your experience in the particular field. Also, let the interviewer
know if you are planning to invest in the certification in the near future.

Here’s the complete preparation guide for: PSM I Certification | PSM II Certification | PSM III Certification

40. Do you hold any agile certification? Why did you choose this certification?

Answer: Agile and scrum certifications are hot in the market and organizations are expecting the candidates to hold one
or more out of it. Certifications generally looked by organizations are:

o ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner)

o ASM (Agile Scrum Master)
o CSM (Certified Scrum Master)
o PSM (Professional Scrum Master)
o Safe Agilist
If you have any of these certifications, showcase it here in a big manner. Due to the many options available in the
market, organizations also have started asking why you have chosen one. It’s recommended that for your certification
you know few good points as its advantages handy with you so that it can be mentioned once asked.

Also Read: Top 5 Agile Certifications

PAGE- 21
Some Other Important Interview Questions Suggested By Our Readers

1. When can you say your story is ready to develop/groom enough to deliver?

Answer: Ready is a stable state of Scrum that is linked to a user story. As per the Definition of Ready (DoR), a user story
has to satisfy some conditions before picking it up for a sprint i.e. to be in the ready state. So, the conditions that are
essential for the development/grooming of a user story specify if the user story is ready to develop/groom enough to
deliver or not.

Basically, the following questions should be answered to consider a user story ready:

Why: Is it clear what the business or stakeholders are trying to achieve?

What: Is the goal or outcome of the user story clear?

How: Is the strategy for the implementation of user story clear? Is the story is small enough?

The conditions for the user story are defined by scrum master in coordination with the product owner. Although the
conditions vary for the different projects, some of the common conditions for user story are –

 It is clear and well-written in a format to identify user type, function, and benefits
 It is self-contained i.e. independent of other user story inherently
 It is small so that can be delivered in a single sprint
 It has a defined acceptance criteria for all the functional requirements and appropriate non-functional
requirements
 It should have been estimated by the scrum team
 All the external blocking dependencies should have been resolved before starting the sprint
 The resources/team have all the skills required to deliver the sprint
So, if the user story can give satisfactory answers to the above questions and meet the conditions defined, it is
considered to be ready.

2. How do you manage if the story is high priority and resources left before last day of sprint completion?

Answer: The answer to this question will fully depend on the number of resources left.

If one or two members leave the story just before a day of the sprint completion, a scrum master can handle the
situation as described below –

First, analyze the pending tasks and the impact on the overall sprint. According to that, try to find an alternative solution
around to manage the situation. As a leader, you can decide to work for some extra hours to complete the sprint and
can also ask (remember to ask, not to tell) other team members to do so. And this way, you can do the sprint completion
on time.

PAGE- 22
In case, more or all the members leave just before a day of the sprint completion, then the situation can be handled as –

Analyze the amount of pending work and its impact on the overall sprint.

Check if you can manage the situation and finish the task by yourself or try to get some other resources to work.
(Although this won’t be feasible as you will have to first explain everything about the sprint and task done to the new
team; of course it won’t be possible in a day.) So, if you can’t manage to complete the sprint by yourself, it’s better to
tell this to your product owner. You can ask him to give some more time to complete the sprint, so you can get a new
team or get it done by yourself by working extra hours.

3. As a scrum project manager, what are your responsibilities?

Answer: Firstly, I would like to correct the question as there is no project manager role in scrum i.e. Scrum Project
Manager is not a defined role. The responsibilities of a project manager are split between the scrum master, product
owner, and the development team.

Scrum Master is a facilitator who is responsible to manage the development teams working on Agile methodology. He is
an intermediate between the product owner and the development team to work for the achievement of the final goal.
The scrum master role is similar to the project manager in a few cases, and the responsibilities of a scrum master are:

 Performing Sprint planning

 To schedule the daily Scrum meeting
 Management of responsibilities of the Scrum process
 Assisting Scrum teams to follow Scrum practices
 Work to remove barriers to allow the team focus on work
 Providing assistance with the Product Backlog
 Co-ordinating with Product Owner to design Product Backlog items for the upcoming Sprint
 Motivating team not to be distracted by the external factors
 Helping team to improve the dynamics to reach the goal
Good books also help you to enhance your knowledge and prepare for an interview. Go through the list of Best Agile
Books that will help you get ahead in your career.

4. How (What are the parameters) to choose the number of resources required to your scrum team?

Answer: The team members are the resources to build a scrum team. And the scrum guide recommends that the
development team size should be between 3 and 9 (7 +/- 2) without giving any context or reasons for this.

Obviously, one common range can’t define the optimal size of the team for everyone. So, there are some factors that
should be considered while determining the number of resources required to form a scrum team. These are not just the
factors but the need for the development of the scrum team, let’s have a look.

 The broad set of skills required to build the team

 The consistency in team membership for a long period of time
 Dedication of team members to one and only one team
PAGE- 23
  Diversity and variety in thought and background I.e. a broad set of ideas and experience for more creativity
The scrum guide also states the issues faced by the teams with over 9 members in terms of concerns instead of failing
points. However, you can even have 15 members in the scrum team.

In that case, two teams will be formed according to the nexus Guide for scaling Scrum.

But having a larger team won’t be that effective. In that case, there will be no room for error as going off the tangent will
affect large team more. Remember that the events depend on sprint length, not on the team size. So, just follow scrum
guide along with the consideration of some factors while determining team size.

1. Who are Scrum Masters and what are they responsible for?

The Scrum Masters are responsible for supporting and promoting Scrum. They assist their team in meeting
their goals. They help to manage project risks and mentor the team as a coach. The Scrum Masters are also
known as servant leaders, as they provide collaboration and motivate their team to deliver their best.

2. What is a "user story" in Scrum?

A user story is a tool used in Agile software development that captures the description of a feature from an
end-user perspective. It describes, among others, the type of users and their motivations. A user story
creates a simplified description of a user's requirements.

3. What are the three main artifacts of the Scrum process?

The artifacts of Scrum are:

 Product Backlog.
 Sprint Backlog.
 Product Increment.

4. What do you understand by the term Scrum Sprint? What is its duration?

A Scrum Sprint is a repeatable cycle during which work is completed and made ready for review. The
duration of the Scrum Sprint depends on the size of the project and the team working on it. Generally, it is
under 30 days.

5. Describe the role of a Product Owner.

The Product Owner focuses on the success of the product, ensuring the business value of it. Their main
responsibility is to identify and refine the Product Backlog items.

6. How does the Scrum Master help the Product Owner?

 Efficient Product Backlog management.

PAGE- 24
  Helping the Scrum team in adopting a shared vision.
 Understanding and practicing agility.
 Promoting Scrum events as requested or needed.

7. How does the Scrum Master serve the organization?

 Helping in Scrum adoption.

 Acting as an Agile change agent.
 Helping the team increasing productivity.
 Ensuring the iterative incremental cycle of continuous improvement. The dot voting technique is
often used for this.
 Supporting Agile leadership principles, leading to organizational transformation.

8. Why is Agile methodology necessary?

 It helps in achieving customer satisfaction with the rapid delivery of useful software.
 It eases potential changing requirements, even late in a company's development.
 Repeatedly delivers working software, the main measurement of progress.
 It provides close, daily cooperation between the company and the developers.
 Having self-organizing teams brings, as a result, self-motivated team members.
 In situations of co-location, it assists communication through face-to-face conversations.
 It offers continuous attention to XP.
 It adds simplicity.

9. What is Scrum?

 Scrum is a processed framework meant to help teams develop projects in an iterative, incremental
manner. The process is organized in cycles of work called Sprints.
 These cycles do not last more than four weeks each (usually two weeks), and they are timeboxed.
This means they end on a specific date whether the work has been completed or not. They are never
extended.
 At the beginning of each Sprint, the team chooses one of the project's tasks from a prioritized list.
They agree on a common goal of what they believe they can deliver at the completion of the Sprint,
something that is tangible and realistic. During the Sprint, no additional tasks should be added.
 The team meets every day to review their progress and adjust the steps needed to complete the
remaining work.
 At the end of the Sprint, the team reviews the work cycle with the stakeholders and shows the end
product. With the feedback they get, they plan the next Sprint.
 Scrum emphasizes obtaining a working product at the completion of each Sprint. When talking
about software, this means a system that is integrated, tested, end-user documented, and
shippable.

10. What are the five phases of risk management?

 Risk identification.

PAGE- 25
  Risk categorization.
 Risk response.
 Risk review.
 Risk closure.

11. What are the main tools used in a Scrum project?

 JIRA.
 Rally.
 Version One.

12. How can a Scrum Master track the progress of a Sprint?

Scrum Masters can track the Sprint progress by using the burndown chart. The vertical axis shows the
amount of work remaining while the horizontal one shows the number of Sprints.

13. What is timeboxing in Scrum?

Timeboxing means allotting a fixed unit of time for an activity. The unit of time is called a time box. The
maximum length of a time box should be 15 minutes.

14. Is canceling a Sprint possible? Who can cancel a Sprint?

A Sprint can be canceled before the Sprint timebox limit ends. Only the Product Owner can cancel the
sprint.

15. How is estimation in a Scrum project done? What are the techniques used for estimation?

Estimation in a Scrum project is done using relative Agile estimation techniques:

 The T-shirt Estimation Technique.

 The Planning Poker Estimation Technique.
 The Estimation by Analogy Technique.
 The Disaggregation Estimation Technique.

16. What are the roles involved in the Scrum framework?

A Scrum framework has three roles :

 Scrum Master.
 Product Owner.
 Development team

17. What is the difference between change management in a Waterfall and an Agile Scrum?

PAGE- 26
In Waterfall, change management is based on the change management plan, the change tracker and the
release plan based on which the consultants deliver their work.

In Agile, there is no change management plan. The work delivery is only based on the definition of the
product backlog.

18. What is the purpose of a daily Scrum?

The daily Scrum meeting is for the team. It helps them self-organize towards their sprint commitment and
set the context for the next day’s work.

19. What do you understand by the term scope creep? How do you prevent it from happening?

If the requirements are not properly defined at the start and new features are added to the product
already being built, a scope creep occurs. To prevent it:

 The requirements must be clearly specified.

 The project progress must be monitored.
 Effective grooming of sprint backlog must be done.

20. What are the most common risks in a Scrum project?

 A scope creep.
 Timeline issues.
 Budget issues.

21. What do you understand by Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in Scrum?

An MVP is a product with the minimum required features to be shown to the stakeholders and be eligible
to ship for production.

22. What is the major advantage of using Scrum?

Early feedback, as well as the production of the Minimal Viable Product to the stakeholders, would be the
main advantages of using it.

23. What does DoD mean? How can this be achieved?

Definition of Done is formed by a list of tasks that define the work's quality. It is used to decide whether an
activity from the Sprint backlog is completed.

PAGE- 27
24. What is the term velocity in Scrum?

Velocity calculates the total effort the team has put into a Sprint. The number is obtained by adding all the
story points from the previous Sprint. It is a guideline for the team to understand the number of stories
they can do in a Sprint.

25. List out the disadvantages of Scrum.

 Daily Scrum meetings require frequent reviews and substantial resources.

 A successful project relies on the maturity and dedication of the whole team.
 The uncertainty of the product, the changes, and frequent product delivery remain present during
the Scrum cycle.
 It depends on significant change.

Important tips for preparing an interview:

 Review the most commonly asked questions, listed above.

 Do some previous research on the company.
 Find a way to develop a connection with the interviewer.
 Be positive and be confident.
 End the interview on a positive note.

Conclusion:

So, all you need to crack your interview is a broader understanding of the role of Scrum Master, agile
methods and concepts that Scrum Framework embodies. In addition to this getting a Scrum Master
certification from a recognized brand would add value to your résumé. GreyCampus is a leading provider of
professional certification courses, helping experts build a strong base on Scrum practices and its
development.

There are many questions during an interview that do not have a right or wrong answer. It all depends on
each organization and the applicant's perspective when resolving the situation. Hence, one should also be
prepared for general questions as well.

Agile principles: The Agile Manifesto is based on twelve principles:

 Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software
 Welcome changing requirements, even late in development
 Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
 Working software is the principal measure of progress
 Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace
 Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers
 Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)
 Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
 Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design

PAGE- 28
  Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential
 Self-organizing teams
 Regular adaptation to changing circumstances
JIRA Interview Questions and Answers
Given below is the list of most frequently asked JIRA interview questions and answers.
Q #1) Why is JIRA used?
Answer: Atlassian JIRA is basically an issue and project tracking tool which allows us to track any project related work by
following a proper workflow. Enlisted below are few reasons which determine the usage of JIRA:
 Able to track project progress from time to time.
 JIRA use-cases include project management, feature implementation, bug tracking, etc.
 Work-flow can be easily customized as per our requirement.
 Along with issue tracking, history of the work done on issues, when, what and by whom can also be tracked.
 JIRA is platform independent and can run anywhere.
Q #2) Explain JIRA workflow.
Answer: Workflow defines the series of steps or stages an issue/ bug goes through during its lifecycle from creation to
the closing of the issue.
The workflow here includes the creation of an issue, series of actions performed to fix the issue and the last step
includes the closing or say completion of the issue after verification. This can also be understood by the below diagram:

Q #3) Enlist the report types generated by JIRA.

Answer: There are multiple reports available in JIRA which are used to show the project statistics throughout the project
life cycle.
There are general reports available for analyzing issues as well as different reports for Scrum projects and Kanban
projects.

Following are the general reports generated as and when required for analyzing issues:
 Average Age Report
 Created vs Resolved issue Report
 Pie Chart Report
 Recently created Issue Report
 Resolution Time Report
 Time Tracking Report
 User Work load Report
 Version Work load Report
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  Workload Pie chart Report
Following are the examples of reports generated for Scrum projects:
 Sprint Report
 Control chart
 Burndown chart
 Cumulative Flow diagram
 Epic Report
 Release Burndown
 Velocity chart
 Version Report
Following are the examples of reports generated for Kanban projects:
 Control chart
 Cumulative Flow diagram.
For generating reports for your project, follow the below steps;
 Navigated to desired project dashboard.
 Click on Reports tab from left-hand side to view different reports.
 Click on Switch report to view the different report.
(Note: Click on the image for enlarged view)

Q #4) Explain the step by step procedure of how an issue is created in JIRA.
Answer: Whenever an issue or defect is encountered while testing, it needs to be reported so that the developers can
work on it and take the necessary action to fix it.
We will see step by step as how an issue is created in Atlassian JIRA.
1) Log in to your JIRA account by using valid credentials and get directed to the dashboard.
2) Click on ‘Create’ button displayed and you will be navigated to a window for creating an issue.
3) Enter all the necessary details as required to create an issue. As you can see in the below image:
In Project field, project for which we are creating an issue is selected. In this example: STH_Learning(STHL) is selected
from the dropdown containing all the available projects.
In Issue type field, the nature of the issue is selected from the dropdown which contains option like Bug, Task,
Improvement, Story, New Feature, etc. In this example, ‘Bug’ is the nature of the issue.
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Summary field contains the one line title of the issue which imparts the critical information about the issue in a
summarized way. The more effective the issue headline, the more you can show the criticality of the issue. Of course,
the headline should be easily understood without any chances of misinterpretation.
The example I have taken here, however is not much critical.

The Reporter is the one who reports the issue. In most of the cases, the name of the Project manager is selected in this
field.
In Description field, the detailed description of the issue is written. As you can see in the below example screenshot,
Steps to reproduce the issue, Actual result, Expected result are included in the description.
In Affect Version field, the current build version the project is selected in which the issue has been encountered.
Fix version field is basically selected by the concerned developer people, who choose the version as and when the work
for the particular issue has been finished and the issue has been fixed.
Priority field defines which issue should be considered first to be fixed. Tester selects the priority of the issue from the
dropdown based on its effect on the application. This example issue is basically of a Medium priority.
In Attachment field, any video or screenshot related to the issue is being uploaded.
In Environment field, operating system and browser details are mentioned on which issue has been encountered.

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4) After all the details have been completed, Click on ‘Create’ button displayed on the window to create the new issue.
5) Issue id is generated which can be used in future reference for tracking the progress of the issue.
Q #5) Explain the three color indicators and their significance.
Answer: For any particular issue in JIRA, 3 colors like Blue, Green and Orange is used to denote the amount of time
spent on any particular issue. This information is displayed under ‘Time Tracking’ section. Each colour has its own
significance like;
 Blue: This color is to denote the ‘Original Estimate’ i.e. the time estimate to be invested in resolving the issue.
This field has been labeled as ‘Estimated’.
 Orange: This color determines the time left for resolving the issue. This field has been labeled as ‘Remaining’.
 Green: This color defines the actual time that has been used or say spent in resolving the issue so far. This field
has been labeled as ‘logged’.

Q #6) For any particular issue, what all are included under change history?
Answer: Change history section displays the activities of changing any records with information regarding the person
who has made the change as well as the time at which the changes have been made.
The change history also displays the information about the old and new field values in the case of the change in any
field.

Basically, change history includes the following records of the changes:

 Creation and deletion of a comment.
 Creation and deletion of an issue link.
 Deletion of a worklog.

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  File attachment changes
 Issue field changes
The change history for any issue can be viewed in JIRA by following steps:
 Open any particular issue.
 Click on ‘History’ tab present in the ‘Activity’ section.

Q #7) Mention a way with which an issue can be shared with other users in JIRA.
Answer: An issue can be shared with other users in JIRA by using the share option available on the issue description
page.

When share option for any particular issue is clicked, it contains the link to the issue to be shared along with ‘Username
or Email’ and ‘Note’ field that has to be filled.

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Q #8) What is the importance of labeling issue?
Answer: Labeling an issue is basically done to categorize an issue within a particular section which in turn can be easily
searched with the help of labels.
Label for a particular issue can be initially set at the time of creating the issue, while it can edit also within the issue.
Label field is displayed under the ‘Details’ section as shown below in the figure:

Q #9) How is an issue linked in JIRA?

Answer: As the name itself defines, Linking means the association between the two.
In the same way, in JIRA issue is linked with any other issue in cases like:
 Relate to another issue
 Duplicate to another issue
 Block another issue.
For displaying the details of the Linked issues, there are two fields available in JIRA: ‘Linked issues’ and ‘Issues’.

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Linked issue section contains the dropdown for the options to be selected as the reason for linking the issue. As per the
selected option, the suggestion of the issues to be linked in displayed in ‘Issue’ dropdown.

Linking of issues can be done either on the same or different JIRA servers.

Q #10) What is the purpose of JIRA dashboard?

Answer: The first page which is displayed whenever we get logged in to JIRA application is ‘Dashboard’ which is basically
the default or system dashboard.
A personal dashboard can also be created and designed by adding different gadgets and can be edited also as and when
required. These gadgets are the means to display the project progress in terms of issues, etc.

Let us understand the steps as how a personal dashboard can be created:

1) Enter valid credentials and get navigated to JIRA dashboard.
2) Click on “…” displayed on the upper right hand side and choose option ‘Create dashboard’. You can also choose ‘Copy
dashboard’ in the case of copying the currently viewed dashboard.

3) ‘Create Dashboard’ page is displayed.

4) Enter all mandatory information and click on ‘Create’ button.

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5) After creating a dashboard, you get navigated to a page where there are multiple options to select and add gadgets to
your dashboard.

6) There is also an option available to choose and edit the layout of your dashboard.
Any particular Dashboard can be edited, copied, shared, delete from the Manage dashboard section.

Q #11) What do you mean by Scheduling an issue?

Answer: Scheduling the issue means scheduling the work of issue for a particular ‘due date’.
For this function to work, one must have ‘Schedule issue permission’ by JIRA Administrator. In this case, a field with ‘Due
Date’ is being populated.

Q #12) Explain how particular project details are listed in JIRA.

Answer: Every project has some main attributes which have to be displayed in the project summary.
This attributes include:
 Name of the project
 Key
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  Components
 Versions (if present)
Please refer below screenshot of Project ‘STH_L’ summary page as your reference. Although not much activity has been
done in this project but this image will give you a clear idea.

As you can see from the image, the middle display area of the page shows the ‘Activity’ screen containing details on the
activities done on issues or project.

The right hand side section displays the basic information about the Project like Project Lead, Key, Issue Status, etc.

The left hand side contains various options like Components, issues, Reports, Active Sprints, etc. The related information
is displayed as per the selection from the option.

For Example: If I select the ‘Issue’ option, the below displayed screen will appear.

Q #13) What are issues types that are created and tracked via JIRA?
Answer: JIRA has some defined set of default issue types which are displayed under ‘Issue Type’ section.

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Other issue types can be added, edited and deleted as per requirement of the project. Some of the common issue types
are Bug, Task, Sub-task, Epic, Story, etc.

Their details can also be seen under Issue type section as shown in the below figure.

As the definition of ‘Issue Type Schema’ mentioned in JIRA application,

An issue type scheme determines which issue types will be available to a set of projects. It also allows specifying the
order in which the issue types are presented in the user interface. There are two types of issue type schema:

 Default Issue type schema

 Scrum Issue type schema

Q #14) How is a sub-task created in JIRA?

Answer: Sub-task is the way of splitting up of parent issue into a number of small tasks which are tracked and worked on
separately.
The parent issue contains the information of all its sub-tasks which can be only of the same project. A parent issue
cannot be closed unless and until all its sub-tasks are closed. A sub-task has the same fields as that of any standard issue
but their issue types are different.

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Now, let us see step by step how a sub-task is created. I have created an issue in the below example for the
understanding creation of sub-task.

1) Open a parent issue by searching with an issue id or create any new issue id.
2) On the right hand side of the issue description screen, you will see “…” . Click on it and options are displayed.
3) Click on Create Sub-task from the displayed dropdown option.

4) Create sub-task window is displayed.

5) Enter all the mandatory details and click on ‘Create’ button.

6) Now the created sub task gets added to the parent issue under sub-task section as shown below in the figure:

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7) There are also options available to convert an issue into a sub task as well as sub task into an issue.
Q #15) Explain the term Cloning an issue.
Answer: Cloning an issue means copying an issue.
In this condition, a clone of the original issue is created which consist of same information as is present for the original
issue. Cloning of the issue is done so that multiple users can work on the same issue, however, the operation done
either on the original issue or clone issue has no effect on each other.

All the information of the original issue are cloned expect few as mentioned below:
 Time tracking
 Comments’
 Issue history
 Status and Resolution
Let us see how to create a clone of an issue:
1) Open any issue by searching with an issue id or create any new issue id.
2) On the right hand side of the issue description screen, you will see “…” . Click on it and options are displayed.
3) Click on Clone from the displayed dropdown option.

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4) Clone issue window is displayed.
5) If required, you can edit the summary of the issue and click on ‘Create’ button.

6) Another issue is created with ‘CLONE’ added in the summary.

Q #16) Explain Kanban board.
Answer: Kanban boards are created for the projects where the team has their prime focus on visualizing the workflow
and managing the project’s work in progress.
The most important feature of Kanban board is that it is found in work mode because the projects do not have their
work as planned.

Let us see how Kanban board is created in JIRA step by step.

1) Log In to the JIRA application using valid credentials and get navigated to the dashboard.
2) Click on Project dropdown and select option ‘Create Project’.
3) Select ‘Kanban Software development’ and click on Next button.

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4) Enter all the necessary details and click on Create button.
5) Kanban board is created as shown in below example.
Note: I have just taken a basic example of creation

In the case of Kanban, the incoming task is given more priority and hence it is considered as the best methodology for
cases like bug fixing and maintenance release.

Q #17) Mention one similarity and one difference between JIRA Scrum and JIRA Kanban.
Answer:
Similarity: Both JIRA Scrum and Kanban is considered as the most powerful process tool for optimization of work and
the processes as both processes focus is on continuous optimization and visualizing the workflow. In these cases, large
and the complex tasks are broken down and each individual tasks are worked on and completed efficiently.
Difference: Scrum board is the work mode where progress of sprints and tracking of its work is done. Here the team
determines the list of issues that has become backlog and then these issues are moved to sprints as per team plan.

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In the case of Kanban board, the work in progress activities is being maintained and their process flow is tracked. Here
the team decides the increase and decrease of the number of issues that is to be displayed in each status of the
workflow.

Q #18) What are the most useful JIRA add-ons.

Answer: Some of the most useful JIRA add-ons are listed below:
 Jenkins-CI
 Usersnap
 Slack
 HipChat
 GitHub
 PagerDuty
 Tempo Timesheets
Q #19) What comes under JIRA Schema?
Answer: JIRA Schema consists of the following:
 Workflows
 Issue types
 Custom fields
 Screens
 Field configurations
 Notifications
 Permissions
Q #20) How is security setting helpful in JIRA?
Answer: Security setting for any issue is defined or say set either at the time of creation of the issue or while editing the
issue.
The basic reason for security setting is to restrict the user access to the issue so that not all users are able to work on
that issue. Security setting also allows the access of the issue to the member of chosen security level.

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1) What is JIRA?

JIRA is an issue tracking product or a software tool developed by Atlassian, commonly used for bug tracking, project
management, and issue tracking; it is entirely based on these three aspects. It is widely used in software development
and software testing.

2) What is a workflow?

Workflow is defined as a movement of the bug/issue through various stages during its life-cycle

 Created/Open
 WIP ( Work In Progress)
 Completed/Closed
3) What can be referred to as an issue in Atlassian JIRA?

In JIRA, an issue can be anything like a

 Software bug
 The project task
 A help-desk ticket
 The leave request form
4) List out the source control programs with which it integrates?

It integrates with source control programs such as CVS, Git, Subversion, ClearCase, Visual SourceSafe, Mercurial, and
Perforce.

5) Why use JIRA software?

The reason behind using JIRA is

 Upfront and fair licensing policy

 Features that is not available elsewhere
 Get the latest update on the progress of projects
 It runs anywhere and recognized with many famous companies
 Easily extensible and customizable

6) Is it possible to access JIRA cloud site via a mobile device?

Yes, it is possible to access JIRA cloud site via a mobile device. You have to use the URL of the JIRA cloud site in your
mobile web browser.

7) Can you disable JIRA mobile for the site?

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You can disable JIRA mobile for the site so that users can be unable to operate the desktop view of JIRA on their mobile
device. JIRA mobile comes as a system add-on and can be disabled at any time.

8) Explain labeling and linking issue in JIRA

 Labeling Issue:It enables you to categorize an issue in a more informal way than assigning it to a component or
version. You can then search issues according to the label.
 LinkingIssue: This feature enables you to link an association between two issues on either on the same or
different JIRA servers.
9) Name the types of reports generated in JIRA

JIRA offer reports that show statistics for projects, versions, people or other fields within issues. Various reports
included with JIRA are

 Average Age Report

 Pie Chart Report
 Resolution Time Report
 Recently Created Issues Report
 Resolved vs. Created Issues Report
 Single Level Group by Report
 Time Tracking Report
 User Workload Report
 Workload Pie Chart Report, etc.
10) What is Cloning an Issue?

Cloning as issue allows you to create a duplicate of the original issue so that many employees can work on a single issue
within a single project. The clone issue can be connected to the original issue. A clone issue holds following the
information

 Summary
 Description
 Assignee
 Environment
 Priority
 Issue Type
 Security
 Reporter
 Components, etc.
11) What are the things not included in cloned issue in JIRA?
 Time tracking
 Issue History
 Comments
12) What is the use of “Move Issue” wizard in JIRA?

The move issue wizard enables you to specify another project in your JIRA instance. Move wizard permits you to change
certain attributes of an issue like

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  Issue Type:If your issue is a customs issue type and does not occur in your target project, you must choose a
new issue type for your issue
 Issue Status:If you have assigned your issue as a custom issue status and it does not exist in your project, you
must select a new issue status for your issue
 Custom Fields:If you have determined required custom fields for your issue, which do not occur in the target
project, you must set values for them.
13) How is security setting helpful in JIRA?

JIRA’S security setting restricts access to the issue to only those person who is allowed to work on the issue or a member
of the chosen security level. The security level of an issue can be set either when the issue is created or when the issue is
being edited

14) How can you share an issue with other users in JIRA?

You can email an issue by using the share option in JIRA. You can also email other JIRA users a link to the issue by sharing
the issue with them or by mentioning them in an issue’s Description or Comment field.

15) How you can modify multiple bulk issues?

To modify multiple bulk issues, you can use the Bulk Change option from the “Tools” menu of the navigator. All the
issues on the current page can be selected for the bulk operation. The following list details the available bulk operations
like
 Workflow Transition
 Delete
 Move
 Edit
16) How you can disable mail notification for Bulk Operations?

To disable mail notification for a particular Bulk Operations, you have to de-select the “Send Notification” checkbox in
the bulk operation wizard.

17) What does an issue change history include?

Issue change history includes

 Deletion of a comment
 Deletion of a work log
 Creation or removal of an issue link
 Attachment of a file
 Changes to an issue field
18) Explain what does the three color indicates tracking times or duration for an issue?

Three colors will be displayed representing the amount of time spent behind the issue

 Original Estimate (Blue): The amount of time estimated initially to resolve the issue
 Remaining Estimate(Orange): The remaining amount of time left to resolve the issue
 Time Spen or Logged (Green): The amount of time spent so far while resolving the issue
19) What are some of the popular add-ons for JIRA?

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Some popular add-ons for JIRA include,

 Suites utilities for JIRA

 ScriptRunner for JIRA
 Zephyr for JIRA – Test Management
 JIRA Toolkit Plugin
 Atlassian REST API Browser
 Portfolio for JIRA
 JIRA Misc Workflow Extensions
 Tempo Timesheets for JIRA
 JIRA Charting Plugin
20) What is Schemes in JIRA?

Schemes are a major part of JIRA configuration. It is a collection of configured values that can be used by one or more
JIRA project. For instance, Notification Schemes, Permission Scheme, Issue Type Scheme, and so on. There are a total of
seven types of schemes.

21) What can be configured for the JIRA project and issue type?

You can configure the following things for each pair of an issue type and JIRA project.

 The order of custom fields appears on an issue screen

 The workflow of an issue including the statuses
 Which custom fields and system an issue can use
 Project accessibility
 Permissions for what a user can do with an issue
 Versions and components available for an issue
22) Is it possible to get back up your JIRA cloud data?

In JIRA, you can take a backup of your JIRA cloud data using Backup Manager. But only one backup file is stored at a
time. The existing backup is overwritten by new ones.

23) What data can be backed up?

The backup data includes,

 Attachments if selected
 Users and their group settings
 Avatars
 Issues
24) Give some useful tips on JIRA Workflow
 As such Statuses are global objects in JIRA. Changing the name of the status on one workflow will change the
status on all workflows that use that status
 Hover over status or transition to see the relevant transition labels
 One cannot clone transitions in the workflow designer
 In the workflow designer, one cannot create annotations
 Directly you cannot set the issue editable property.
25) What are the limitations when editing an active workflow?
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  If a workflow is active, you cannot edit the workflow name (only the description)
 You cannot delete the workflow steps
 A step associated status cannot be edited
 You cannot add any new outgoing transition if a step has no outgoing transitions (Global transitions are not
considered).
 A step’s Step ID cannot be changed.
26) In JIRA workflow, is it possible to transition an issue back to its previous status?

Practically, it is not possible to transition an issue back to its previous status. However, you can use the “on hold”
feature to transition an issue back to its prior status. Here are the steps,

 In a workflow, Create a global transition to the ‘On Hold’ state.

 Now from ‘On Hold’ status create another transition to every other status you want to come back to
 Since the transition names cannot be the same, add a blank space at the end of it.
 Now you don’t want the status transition from the ‘On Hold’ and ‘Done’ to ‘On Hold’ So you will hide the other
status “On Hold” by adding the value field condition on the global transition.
27) What is the role of Validators in JIRA?

The Validators in JIRA checks that any input made to the transition is valid before the transition is performed. If a
validator fails, the issue will not progress to the destination status of the transition.

28) What types of Post functions are carried out after the transition is executed?

Types of Post functions carried out after transition is executed includes

 Adding a comment to an issue

 Generating change history for an issue
 Updating an issue’s fields
 Generating an event to trigger email notifications
29) What is an event in JIRA?

The events are classified in two a System event (JIRA defined events) and Custom event (User-defined events). An event
describes the status, the default template and the notification scheme and workflow transition post function
associations for the event.

30) What is the Audit Log?

Under Audit Log, you can see all the details about the issue created, and the changes made in the issues.

31) For an Agile project, how user stories in JIRA are created?

For an Agile project to create user stories in JIRA, follow below steps.

 Issue type -Epic and Issue type – Story linked to it. In order to do so, in the ‘Create Issue’ page, go to “Configure
Fields” and select “Epic link” field to be included in the issue creation screen.
 Or you can have a product backlog by creating a main User story and having various sub-tasks under it.
32) What is an “issue collector”?

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An “issue collector” enables you to easily embed a JIRA feedback form into your own web site. This helps website
visitors to log issues into JIRA through our website. To use JIRA feedback form, visitors to our website do not need a
user account in JIRA.

33) State the difference between Bugzilla and JIRA?

Bugzilla JIRA

 It is an Open Source  It is a commercial tool

 Using Bugzilla might be little complicated

for few due to grouping users and granting  For some using JIRA would be more convenient than
permissions Bugzilla

 Bugzilla allows you to show/hide the

whole custom field or specific values based on  JIRA enables conditional configuration based only on
the value of some other field Type fields and Project.

 JIRA lacks advance-level search options. JIRA has a

 Bugzilla’s has a powerful advanced search flexible JQL language (JIRA Query Language). It enables
option you to build arbitrary boolean expressions.

 Unlike Bugzilla, JIRA enables you to define multiple

 Unlike JIRA, Bugzilla allows users to select workflows which are applied based on the issue’s Project
the initial status of a new issue. and Type.

 JIRA has configurable link types with user-defined

 Bugzilla has only one link type: semantics. JIRA enables to link an issue to any other
Blocks/depends and a Bug ID custom field entity outside JIRA.

34) How you can modify multiple bulk issues?

You can modify multiple bulk issues by using option “Bulk Change” option.

35) What is JIRA dashboard?

JIRA dashboard is a dashboard which you will see when you opens up Jira.

Refer our JIRA Tutorials for an extra edge in your interview.

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